How to break a Dragon
by Queen of the Weasels
Summary: How to break a Dragon, or The Chatterbox and the Traitorous Hands. Alys won't stop talking, and Selendrile can't take it anymore. Oneshot.


' _Spirits above'_ he wondered. _'Do all humans talk this much?'_

In the time he had spent with them Selendrile had learned humans, especially of the female variety, liked to talk. But by the all the powers that be did Alys LOVE TO TALK!

For the first few weeks their conversations had been hesitant and long coming, but as his human learned he rarely participated in them she had eventually learned to carry on complete discussions without any input from him.

This was usually fine, he listened to her tone rather than her words, and after a while it was rather like listening to birdsong or flowing water; Semi-pleasant white noise. He learned to identify the tones that she used when she needed something from him and tuned out the rest.

Some days were worse than others. Some days she would fall into a sullen melancholy tone that actually required his attention to improve, but for the most part they coexisted peacefully with little vocal participation on his part. It was quite a step for a solitary dragon, if he did say so himself.

But today she had started talking the moment they were ready to travel and had not stopped for more than a few minutes at a time ALL DAY.

All day while they had flown across fields and forests she had sat astride his shoulders, hands secure in his mane, and talked right into his ear. She was using the pleased nostalgic tone, so probably talking about her childhood, but ALL DAY!

Even when they landed and he went about making camp for the night she kept talking. Talking while he gathered wood, talking while he found some small game for supper, and even managing to keep talking while they ate.

Alys was so engrossed with whatever never ending ramble she was on she didn't even yell at him to turn around as she changed for bed.

So he didn't.

She didn't seem to notice his frustrated stare on her as she unlaced her bodice and wiggled out of the heavy dress she wore for flying. And she kept right on talking as she then shed the simple shift she wore underneath.

Selendrile's stare went from annoyed to surprised as she disrobed in front of him, only turned slightly to the side to spare her strange maiden's modesty she normally found so important.

His gaze became something else again as he not _saw_ , but **noticed** for the first time the smooth curve and weight of her breast, and the taunt pleasing line her ribs made down to her hips. Where had this sudden urge to run his tongue over those curves come from?

He jerked his eyes away as she finished dressing, bringing a hand to his face to test if it was actually burning like it felt it was. Selendrile had the distinct impression that something out of the ordinary had just occurred within himself. And he needed to figure it out before she noticed the change. His head was full of a dull roaring, like the wind rushing past his ears. .

But of course that couldn't be right, because they were on the ground AND ALYS WAS STILL TALKING! He put his hands over his ears. He couldn't hear himself think with her voice stabbing into his ears.

And he needed to think.

Before he realized it his body had acted. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her abruptly. "GODS, WOMAN! DO YOU EVER SHUT UP!"

In the instant later his brain rejoined his body and he let go of her like she was raw iron.

He glanced at his traitorous hands for a heartbeat before he buried them in his hair. _"She's going to yell at me now, and yelling is worse than talking.'_

His gaze was on the ground as he tried to sort out this rapid turn of events.

He tried to push his frantic thoughts back and school his features into blankness, steeling himself for the anger or hurt in her expression. _'One step at a time. I have to fix this now. I can think when she's asleep.'_

What he was defiantly not expecting when he looked up was the satisfied smile spreading across her face, growing even wider when she saw the confusion breaking through on his.

"I wondered how long it would take to break you."

The unbridled delight in her eyes undid him.

His traitorous hands were on her shoulders again, but this time he was pulling her tight against him, mouth blindly crashing down and effectively silencing her laughter.

It wasn't until he was almost asleep hours later, eyes mindlessly tracing over her sleeping shape in the waning firelight, that he realized how truly broken he was now. The stoic dragon act was never going to work again. She had weaseled her way under his skin and right up next to his heart.

' _But it's not all bad'_ he mused. _'At least now I know how to shut her up.'_


End file.
